He said: “Because of the situation, the family will be behind Swansea more than West Ham.

“I have played against Jordan a few times at Villa and at Marseille.

“But there has never been a big rivalry between us. It is always nice.

“Also when we play together with the national team I am happy to be on the pitch with him.

“We are very close. We try to help each other, to see what we can do better. We work together, do everything together and talk about everything.”

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Jordan Ayew has seen Swansea drop back into danger and now faces brother AndreCredit: Reuters

The ‘R’ word must surely have come up in their chats, then, with Slaven Bilic’s side in freefall and Swansea slipping back into the bottom three.

Ayew became West Ham’s club-record buy when he joined from Swansea for £20.5million last summer.

But he picked up a thigh injury on his debut and was out for 2½ months.

His first Hammers goal came in that 4-1 win against his former club at the Liberty on Boxing Day. But the African believes he got back to full ­fitness only after returning from the African Nations Cup in January.

He said: “I went back to Swansea when West Ham played there and it was strange — I nearly went into the home dressing room.

“I was happy to see the fans. It is a club I really enjoyed.

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Slaven Bilic is under rising pressure as West Ham drift nearer the drop zoneCredit: Rex Features

“For sure, I want them to stay up. They struggled at the beginning of the season but look at them since Paul Clement arrived as manager. You can sense something new is coming.

“After I joined West Ham, I was injured for a long time and then I went to the African Nations Cup. So, my season only started properly there.

“A lot of people underestimated the injury, which was a very difficult one.

“I had to take a decision whether to have an operation or not. There was a lot of hard work and when I came back I still had pain. But I played through it and I never complained.

“When the criticism came I stayed calm because I knew I was not 100 per cent. But I had to go through that to get back. It is the worst I’ve had in my career but it made me stronger, tougher.”

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Andre Ayew knows the Hammers need him firing on all cylinders against SwansCredit: Getty Images

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